Small Party Assisted Rescue Training - Texas 2017

Opening talk

 I recently spent 10 days in Texas to teach back-to-back Small Party Assisted Rescue (SPAR) classes for the National Cave Rescue Commission (NCRC). This all-volunteer organization wants to ensure that people have the best methods to get an injured, sick, or stuck caver out from the underground. Caves are one of the most difficult places to do a rescue, as passages can be tiny and convoluted, there's no way to get a short haul from a helicopter, GPS doesn't work, and there isn't any cell signal. Plus it's dark. And often wet. And sometimes deep.

The NCRC offers Levels 1 (Team Member), 2 (Team Leader), 3 (Advanced Rigging), and TOFE (Team Oriented Field Exercises) at weeklong seminars. These are all aimed at cave rescuers responding in big groups with lots of equipment. But what if you're really remote and don't have many people or gear? That's where Small Party Assisted Rescue (SPAR) comes in. We focus on rescue with minimal gear and people. That's the kind of rescues we'd need to do where I live. So I love it.

The Texas regional seminar offered Levels 1 and 2 as well as two SPAR classes. When we started at our classroom, under a pavilion, at the beginning of the week, it was cold! We had coats on and made sure we were in the sun. Fortunately the classroom part is only half a day and rather interactive, such as with splinting your partner with things from your cave pack.

 In the afternoon it was time for stations, when groups of four rotated through four stations. This one is releasable redirect, or in other words, how to get someone up and over the picnic table.

Traveling haul was another one. You can see the awe and amazement about learning this technique. (I seem to have caught a lot of funny expressions!)

Later it was time for minimal gear. How little gear do you need to climb a rope?

 The next day we went out to some cliffs. I was in charge of the crack and crevice portion, and we had a really cool place to practice.

The third and last day we had scenarios, and the students rotated through three caves, solving a problem in each. The instructors split up and stayed in the same cave each day, and it was really interesting to see the different ways students solved the problems. Below they've rigged a diminishing loop to a haul system that can be hauled by a climber, which we've nicknamed the Dragon.

It can be a little awkward. But essentially just one person can carry out the rescue as long as the patient is conscious and doesn't have too serious of injuries.

 We finished one class and started right after dinner with the next class. Fortunately the weather had warmed up, so the next day we were even able to go down to short sleeves. Below, students figure out how to convert-to-lower off bolts. In other words, a rope is connected to bolts, and someone gets stuck on it. How can you quickly get them off the weighted rope and lower them to the ground with another rope?

There's more than one way to do it! We always like to practice the scenarios first in a somewhat controlled environment (not far from the ground), then the next day we step it up at short cliffs or caves, and the last day the students have to figure out what method to use.

 Part of the training included an alpine single rope technique (SRT) course, with rebelays, J-hangs, and even a guided rappel. Your climbing system has to be well-adjusted to do the course efficiently.

The guided rappel was my favorite. You basically rappel diagaonally.

 On cliff day I was at the Dragon station. We drew out the rigging and talked about it, had a demo, and then the students got to try it for real.

 Another station was climbing and rappelling counterbalances, a slick technique that doesn't require a lot of people either.

 On scenario day, the instructors switched up caves. I was the "bat," or invisible instructor fluttering around and checking rigging. Another instructor was on the small party trip, and he unfortunately got injured (in the scenario).

The students figured out how to splint him and get him out with minimal gear.

 At the end of a very fun class we set up for a class photo. Except the students decided to run away.

Fortunately they came back again.

It was a really fun week with great people and nice caves. I learned a few new techniques and am re-energized to keep learning more about cave rescue. You can learn more about cave rescue at the NCRC website.

Small Party Assisted Rescue (SPAR) class in Nevada

I teach cave rescue courses for the National Cave Rescue Commission (NCRC), and one of my favorites is the Small Party Assisted Rescue class. The idea behind this class is that if someone in your caving group gets hurt or sick on the cave trip and doesn't need a litter carry out, your group gets the person out with the gear they have.

The class is often structured for three or four days. I've helped teach them in many states and even Canada over the past few years. Recently we held one in Baker, Nevada. After the morning in the classroom, we headed to our rope gym. Students were split up into small groups and rotated to several stations.

Traveling haul is a fantastic small party rescue technique, because you don't need any extra rope. With two small pulleys (you could use carabiners, but lose a lot of efficiency), you make a 2:1 haul system that moves up the rope. When you put the redirected rope into your Croll and sit down, you have great pulling force. Plus the patient can help (if not too injured).

Here's Dr. Tom waiting to get lifted up and over the table at the releasable redirect station. This is a fun technique that allows you to move someone not only vertically, but also a bit horizontally.

Tom was helping rig, but the main reason I had to include this photo is how often do you get to do ropework with a nearby disco ball??

The balcony provided a great place to practice convert to lower. The idea is that a patient (or a couple jugs of foam) are stuck on rope, and the rope is hard tied at the top. With some extra rope or webbing, how can you lower them quickly to the bottom? (Hint: Munter hitches are a great tool here)

Another station is the diminishing loop counterweight, where a rope goes through a pulley, and the rescuer is on one side and the patient on the other, and they are tethered together. As the rescuer climbs, the patient also goes up. You just have to figure out what to do when you get to the pulley! (That comes in day 2.)

The infamous Voodoo, a way to tension the rope. We used it for the guided rappel.

All this work made us hungry! A catered dinner from Salt & Sucre really hit the spot. Yum!

Then it was back to work with demonstrations and practice time.

Day 2 was all about the cliffs. I was so busy with teaching I hardly got any photos. Here's a multi-pitch way up the cliffs. Students learned how to rappel a patient through rebelays, as well as several other rescue techniques.

After another delicious catered dinner, it was time for a little whiteboard exercise of how to choose which method to use under which circumstances.

The final day was scenario day, where students go caving with instructors in small groups. Somehow an instructor in each group manages to have a problem, which must be solved. They all did great!

Thank you to all the instructors who came and shared their knowledge and to all the students willing to take time to learn something that may help them out some day.

Fantastic 2019 Nevada SPAR class

If you're interested in cave rescue, you can see upcoming classes at the NCRC website.

Hint: there's another cave rescue class (not as technical) coming up in Baker, NV soon, but only has a few spots left!

Cave Rescue Training - April 2015

 It had been a few years since we had a National Cave Rescue Commission training in our area. With a little nudging from my friend Andy, I picked a date, found some instructors willing to volunteer their time, and got ready for a fun weekend.

On Friday we had fifteen students come to improve their single rope technique (SRT) skills in the morning. We had seven single ropes up in the fire station, plus a rebelay course that included some J-hangs and a guided rappel. It was a challenging rebelay course, but fun! Here's Deanna doing the guided rappel, which would keep you out of a waterfall or get you over a pothole or some other obstacle.

In the afternoon we went out to some nearby cliffs and did raises and lowers. It was a windy afternoon, but everyone did well and learned something.


While we were prepping the site, I got this fun shot.


In the evening you could tell we were getting a little tired…but we were still laughing! (Can you see what's happened in the photo below?)

The next morning we changed gears and started the Orientation to Cave Rescue class, a two-day class. We spent the morning and early afternoon in the classroom. Here's Bonny doing the best psych considerations talk I've ever seen. It was also perfect for keeping the students awake after lunch as they had to get up.

Later in the afternoon it was time for the obstacle course, which teaches how to move a litter and tests leadership/followership skills. One particularly fun challenge was going through a narrow fork in the tree.

They did it well! Then everyone had to climb through the tree, which took some teamwork.

Sunday it was time for the mock rescue to test their skills. Thanks to Bonny and Tori for getting some of these photos, as I ended up being one of the patients. They had to come find me and carry me out of the cave.

When the students arrived, they got organized. The incident commander sent everyone to the cave.


Then they were divided into teams with different missions.

One of the search teams found me and then had to keep me warm and treat my injuries while they waited for a litter to arrive.


It took me about ten minutes to go to my place in the cave uninjured, but over three hours to get me out, largely due to patient packaging and then various vertical obstacles. It just goes to show that you want to cave carefully or you could end up spending a lot longer in a cave than you had planned!

On the hike back I discussed the mock rescue with Andy. We were both very happy with how everyone had done. Thanks so much to all the instructors, students, Great Basin National Park, Ely District BLM, and Snake Valley Volunteer Fire Department for their support!

The National Cave Rescue Commission has upcoming training--a Small Party Assisted Rescue seminar in June in Lund, Nevada (with only four spots left), and a weeklong seminar with various levels in Park City, Kentucky (next to Mammoth Cave) at the end of July. You can find more info at the NCRC website.

2018 National Cave Rescue Commission Weeklong Seminar, Alabama

 One of my hobbies is to teach cave rescue techniques with the National Cave Rescue Commission (NCRC). This year's weeklong seminar was in Mentone, Alabama. At first I wasn't going to go because May is always a crazy month, but Camp Skyline is such a nice location and I really wanted to see friends. So by shaving a day off at the beginning and end of the trip, I was able to make it work.

I arrived late the night before classes started and joined everyone in the cafeteria in the morning for the opening session. Then we split into our individual classes. This year I taught SPAR-X, or Extended Small Party Assisted Rescue. This was our pilot weeklong class. Our classroom was quite reminiscent of many shorter SPAR classes where we've rented out a house for a long weekend.

We didn't spend much time in the classroom. We were soon out on the cliffs practicing techniques that didn't use much gear or many people.

The cliff site worked really well for us, and we even had some rebelays to negotiate with a patient going both up and down.

The extra time also allowed for practicing some more advanced skills, and stacking different techniques to solve different problems.

We also had some gym time, and at one point we had all the students on rope at the same time!

Many evenings involved the math and physics behind what we were doing. Students loved it, and they even enjoyed the homework!

We also had some time in caves, which is always good for a cave rescue class. For our final scenario, we split into three groups, and each group had to rescue a person through multiple problems. This was a fun traverse--not your usual up/down haul.

The groups did great with the rescue practice.

At the last obstacle near the entrance, each group solved the problem a different way.

The group I was with did a very simple haul that was super fast.

A cave salamander watched us all go by.

Here's a slightly blurry photo of our class. We were all smiles after six days of great SPAR-X fun. This is a super class, and if you ever want to learn how to do rescues with minimal people and gear, I highly recommend it.

The only downside was that I brought a hitchhiker back with me from Alabama, a little deer tick. Fortunately I haven't had any symptoms of Lyme disease or other tick-borne diseases, but I'm still not out of the woods yet (even though I sort of am!). This tick identification website was really helpful.

At least I didn't get poison ivy! I just need to figure out a way to drop right into the caves, where there aren't so many things to look out for.